News and Knowledge

A classic hallmark of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is an impaired ability to appropriately interpret and respond to social cues like facial expressions. Due to this deficit, faux pas and misunderstandings can be a frequent occurrence; it’s as if many individuals with autism have a habit of deviating from the socially acceptable script. Recent efforts have attempted to address this by having typical peers model appropriate behavior for young adults on the spectrum, but a group of researchers at Vanderbilt University is taking the idea of teaching individuals with ASD to act a bit more literally.

In a study whose results were recently published in Autism Research, they set out to use theatre techniques as a means to help youth with ASD improve their social skills. To do this, they conducted a two-week camp for 16 children (ages 8-17) diagnosed with ASD, 12 of whom participated in the study. The participants were paired with an equal number of same-age typical peers, who were given training on both behavioral intervention techniques and how to interact with kids on the spectrum. Students then engaged in activities such as role playing and mock auditions, as well as rehearsals for a 45-minute play that was performed at the end of the two weeks.

To test participants’ social skills before and after the intervention, researchers used the Social Responsiveness Scale to measure social awareness and social cognition (ability to pick up on and interpret cues), as well as two subtests from A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment. Comparison of pre-test and post-test results indicated that, on average, participants significantly improved in social awareness and social cognition, as well as their ability to identify and remember facial expressions. For example, on one of the subtests from A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment, participants achieved a pre-test average of 8.27 and a post-test average of 9.91; while on the second subtest, they achieved a pre-test average of 8.82 and a post-test average of 11.27.

Despite the small sample size and the lack of a control group, these results are encouraging. They suggest that in a scripted setting such as a theatrical performance, engaging typical peers can help youth with ASD learn how to more effectively interpret social cues. As a result, school administrators may want to consider encouraging their drama departments to reach out to and work with interested students on the spectrum.

However, the study does not examine how or whether these gains would translate to interactions outside the theatre setting. To test this, the researchers suggest follow-up studies that couple this approach with peer-mediated interventions in a school setting to increase the chances that these gains will translate to everyday life. They also suggest that future studies investigate what would happen if new peers were periodically introduced into the group.

Source: Corbett, B. A., Swain, D. M., Coke, C., Simon, D., Newsom, C., Houchins-Juarez, N., Jenson, A., Wang, L., & Song, Y. (2014). Improvement in Social Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorders Using a Theatre Based, Peer Mediated Intervention. Autism Research, 7(1), 4-16.